Marian Grigorian gets a sinking feeling when she gets an assignment handed back to her covered with marks and comments in red ink.
The sophomore biology major at California State University, Northridge, finds herself fighting feelings of despair at the visible criticism of her hard work.
“All you see is red, it’s always the first thing,” Grigorian said. “Then you feel sad and depressed.”
But students may not be the only ones affected by those blood-red marks. A recent study led by CSUN psychology professor Abraham Rutchick found that teachers may grade papers differently depending on what color ink they use.
“The very act of picking up a red pen can bias (teachers’) evaluations,” Rutchick wrote in his report.
The study, published in the European Journal of Social Psychology, shows that subjects using red ink consistently handed out lower grades than those using blue ink.
In one experiment, two separate groups were asked to grade a two-paragraph essay for grammatical and spelling mistakes. The group grading with red ink found more errors than those using blue ink.
Another experiment evaluated a critique of a one-page essay containing no grammatical or spelling errors. Yet, graders using red ink gave the essay lower marks than those using blue.
“There are all sorts of influences on how we think and act, including things that may seem ordinary,” said Rutchick. “One of those is color.”
Although the differences might be minor, even small variations could make the difference between a B-minus and a C-plus. For students worrying about their GPAs, these seemingly insignificant details make a huge impact.
Some students agree that when their teachers grade more subjective material, such as an essay, they could be influenced by the ink color.
“If you look a paper and see red all over it, you might be more apt to give someone a C rather than a B. But if it was blue or black ink – not as noticeable – I think you could be a little more lenient,” said CSUN junior Whitney Crawford.
But some teachers disagree.
“I take whatever pen I have and I grade the same, regardless of the ink color,” said CSUN biology professor Randy Cohen, “For me, the color pen doesn’t have anything to do with grading.”
But Cohen does feel that ink color can affect how students feel about their grades.
“If you get something back marked in red, it stands out, and the students feel worse about it than if it’s in blue.”
A blue B-minus feels better than a red B-minus.
“It’s more calm, instead of bam, right in your face,” Grigorian said.
Other studies have also found that color can affect behavior.
University of British Columbia researchers found that the color red improves performance on detailed-oriented tasks, like proofreading, while blue stimulates creative tasks such as brainstorming.
Other studies have found that red may call up traits including aggression, errors and poor performance.